The Midas Touch
by PD31
Summary: The team are called in to investigate after a hiker discovers a body in the woods of New England - a body that looks like it's made of solid gold.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hello readers. I hope you enjoy this story. Those of you who are here as a result of following an author alert – yes, this is something of a departure from my previous works. What can I say? I have rather diverse TV interests…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fringe or any of the established characters. If you don't recognise a character from the show, the chances are I've invented them.**

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><p><em>Lenox, Massachusetts.<em>

Joe Walsh rose at sunrise on a dry, autumn day. He dressed in a red and blue checked flannel shirt and blue jeans before taking the elevator from the 5th floor of the Holiday Inn down to the lobby and entering the restaurant for breakfast. Walsh gave his name and room number to the attendant before being shown to a table. He ordered coffee and helped himself to a selection of the foodstuffs available from the self-service bar.

After eating his fill he went back to his room, donned his stout hiking boots, packed some essentials and prepared for the day ahead before returning to the 1st floor and leaving the building. He walked across the parking lot to his blue Charger, smiling slightly to himself at the thought of returning to it after having spent so many hours in it during this, his annual trip up from Illinois.

He got into the car, started the engine and headed north up route 7A past Kennedy Park before turning off the road to park up near his favourite trail. Walsh unloaded his hiking equipment, secured his backpack and began his walk up the scarcely-trodden path.

Walsh smiled as he looked around him, taking in the sweet air from the surrounding trees. He picked his camera from around his neck and began photographing the rich colours in the trees – resplendent in their red and golden foliage for mile after mile. The beauty and tranquillity of the area was always a surprise to him, even after years of coming here every autumn just to see it. Walsh gazed above and around him with an aura of child-like wonder filling the 47-year-old's mind. His eyes followed the wildlife (birds and some tree-dwelling squirrels) as the creatures continued their care-free existence in this unspoilt, natural, beautiful landscape. He took another deep breath and smiled, feeling as relaxed and at peace as the animals he had observed.

Suddenly, though, Walsh stumbled and crashed to the ground. The experienced hiker shook his head at the feeling of foolishness growing within him. He rolled onto his back (as best as he could with his pack there) and looked to see what he had tripped over. A surprised yelp met his lips when he saw what looked like a human hand and arm. Walsh scrambled to his feet and over to the limb. He peeled back the undergrowth to reveal a complete body of a woman, her face contorted in horror. But the real horror was to be found on Walsh's own features – the body was shiny and yellow in appearance and rock solid to the touch. It looked as if she had been caste from solid gold.


	2. Chapter 2

Olivia Dunham was sat at the breakfast table sipping her coffee. She smiled as she looked over the brim of her cup and into the eyes of Peter Bishop, sat opposite her, gazing back and matching her smile. The couple were enjoying their meal in a comfortable silence, both enjoying the routine they'd slipped into as their personal relationship had evolved. Bishop finished eating, rose, gathered his plate and walked to the sink, planting a chaste kiss on Dunham's cheek as he passed her, causing her to snigger, her smile widening. She briefly forgot her toast as she touched her hand to her cheek where Bishop had kissed it and she stared into space.

The shrill, insistent tone of her cellphone snapped Dunham out of her reverie, she checked the caller ID, unsurprised to see the word "Broyles" emblazoned on the phone's screen.

"Dunham" she announced by way of greeting, noticing Bishop appear in her peripheral vision.

"Olivia," the clear and measured voice of Philip Broyles began, "a new case has landed on our plate. I need you to get Walter and meet me at Kennedy Park at 10 a.m."

He rung off and Dunham turned to her boyfriend.

"We've to meet Broyles in the west of the state. But first..."

"...we need Walter" he finished.

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><p><em>Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts<em>

The pair arrived at the Fringe scientist's lab, still there from his days as one of the Ivy League college's premier academics. Dr Bishop's assistant, Agent Astrid Farnsworth, greeted them with a quick briefing on the eccentric scientist's latest escapades.

"Hey Walter" Bishop called to him.

"Hmm?" the scientist looked up absent-mindedly, suddenly becoming aware of their presence in his midst. "Oh Peter!" he declared warmly. "How are you this fine morning?"

"Good, Walter" he said, "we've got a body to collect, we need to go."

Dr Bishop rose and followed the pair to Dunham's vehicle and the group set out for the Berkshires.

_Kennedy Park, Massachusetts_

The team arrived at the site and quickly found Broyles; he was talking to a clearly shaken Walsh.

"At first I thought it was a joke, it's gotta be a sick joke right?" he was stammering.

Dunham and the Bishops walked the few yards to the cordoned-off area; immediately they could see the yellow body glinting in the autumn sun.

"Incredible" remarked Walter, a trace of awe in his voice as he crouched down beside it; the scientist didn't touch the body but gazed at it in wonderment.

Dunham went to speak with Walsh; she and Broyles traded places, the division leader joining the Bishops by the body.

"Dr Bishop" the agent began in clipped tones "Do you know what happened here?"

"I'm afraid I don't know… but"

"But you have a theory" his 'son' cut in drily. "Let's hear it" he volunteered, though his tone suggested that he didn't _really_ want to hear the latest product of Walter's imagination.

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><p><em>Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts<em>

"Alchemy?" asked Dunham, clearly baffled.

She had just recounted her own interview with Walsh; he hadn't been able to add too much to their knowledge of the situation. He had simply been hiking in the woods and found the statue (he refused to call it a body) dumped there. When he realised what it was, or looked like, he had called the local police; he was amazed when a team of FBI agents had arrived.

"Yes" enthused Walter "the quest has gone on for _centuries_, how to turn base metal into gold; it spawned modern science in a way."

"And you think someone's done it" Bishop added, scepticism dripping from his tone before a flaw in the scientist's argument presented itself to him; he gestured to the slab where the golden mass was located. "Walter, we're not talking about base metal here, we're talking about a human being _IF_ that is what happened."

"Well we know who he was" said Dunham, wielding a Massachusetts driver's license bearing a likeness to the body's face "assuming it's _NOT_ just a copy."

"It isn't" declared Broyles from the door to Dr Bishop's lab. "We have two more reports, same MO. The bodies are being brought here as we speak."

"Excellent!" Walter clapped his hands in joy. The others turned to look at him and he hurriedly amended "Well obviously not for those poor people turned to gold but… I can get more information from more bodies and start to work out what happened and who did it."

"Walter, why did you undress him?" Bishop asked in exasperation. Dunham and Farnsworth looked at one another with mildly amused expressions as they both noted the statue's anatomical correctness. Broyles coughed and they returned their attention to the case, both still wearing slight smiles.

"Because" the eccentric scientist told him "none of his clothes were turned to gold – only the body. I found that curious."

"Why?" Broyles asked him, puzzled.

"Because it gives a clue as to the method used" he cried. "If it was a _touch_ then the perpetrator would likely have contacted his clothing too but he didn't, it's just the body – and _everything_ about it; hair, nails, skin _BUT_ it's not SOLID gold; look" and he prised the soft metal away from the lips of the statue, shining a torch inside the mouth; its teeth and tongue were gold but the rest of the mouth cavity was empty. "If it was caste then there'd BE no mouth; it would just be a lump of metal. No, this WAS a human and he HAS been turned to gold. I just need to know how… and why."

"Where do we start looking?" Dunham asked.

"Where do we _always_ start when we suspect some cutting edge science?" he retorted.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Thank you to everyone who has been reading my work; particular thanks to xBBx for your review of the previous chapter. I hope you all enjoy the next portion of the episode.**

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><p><em>Massive Dynamic, New York City<em>

"I don't know what you expected from us" began Nina Sharpe as Dunham explained the basics of the case.

"Really Nina?" the agent cut in. "Alchemy, for real and not the stuff of medieval legend, would be SERIOUS cutting edge research – that's what Massive Dynamic does. With the price of gold and other precious metals as high as it is, achieving alchemy would be an amazing achievement."

"It would collapse the gold price overnight" the red-head countered. "If it became so easily manufacturable."

"Yes, you _always_ make _ALL_ your research public" Bishop interjected, his voice riddled with sarcasm.

Nina glared at him but refused to respond verbally.

"HAVE you got any research in this field?" asked Dunham.

"Atomic manipulation like this is tricky" Sharpe began. "Yes, we've looked into it but there's only so much you can do; you can't turn twenty pounds of iron into a hundred pounds of gold – or in your case turn a hundred-and-fifty pound man into four hundred pounds of gold; you can't just create mass out of nothing."

"We weighed the body; one hundred-and-seventy-five pounds" Walter chipped in. Nina nodded.

"Same physique but it will have a hollow centre; whatever did this turned the skin, bone, _everything_ to gold from the outside."

"Some kind of nanobot?" suggested Broyles. Nina shrugged.

"If it is then it's not of _our_creation."

Sensing evasion in her voice and answers Bishop persisted

"Anything of your creation that it _could_ be?" and all eyes turned to Nina.

_Pittsfield, Massachusetts_

The hut was dimly lit by a single candle; its meagre illumination cast shadows into the blackness of the single room's corners. From the gloom a lone figure emerges, purposefully striding to the table on which several instruments lie bathed in the yellow glow. He selects a strange-looking, unusually shaped utensil, pauses to caress some of the other equipment before gathering up a stoppered test-tube and a bottle with a spray-gun cap. The items are stowed in his jacket pockets and he leaves the hut, shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight as he heads for his vehicle.

_Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts_

"So what did you think" Bishop enquired without preamble as the team sat in Walter's lab to discuss the case.

"Do I think Nina knows more than she said? Yes; Massive Dynamic always does." Dunham's tone betrayed her annoyance with the company's obfuscation.

"We got a name at least; David Myres" Broyles interjected. "We're running the name back at HQ; once we get an address we'll go see him and find out what he knows."

According to Nina, Myres had been fired by Massive Dynamic a few months earlier. She had refused to be drawn on the details of what had caused his dismissal, describing it simply as "unacceptable misconduct", which had provided another reason for Dunham's irritation, nor had she given an address for him, claiming not to know one. Dunham had her doubts but she and Broyles were confident that the FBI's resources could be deployed to locate him swiftly. Her boss had made the appropriate calls and put the bureau's best people onto the task of finding their man.

The call came sooner than expected, directing the team to Lanesborough; the town was a few miles north of where Walsh had found the body. Local law enforcement were directed to the address with instructions to scope the place out, look for someone matching Myres's description (what they HAD got from Nina was the physique, and a photograph, of their quarry) and inform them if he arrived or departed. Dunham, Broyles and Peter piled back into their car and made for the site, leaving Walter and Farnsworth to continue poring over the body.

_Lanesborough, Massachusetts_

Bishop and the agents arrived to greet the police chief; ordinarily he wouldn't trouble himself with a stake-out but the involvement of the Feds had made it a far more alluring prospect.

"Agent Broyles? Chief Ortiz" he introduced himself, seeking out the senior agent with a demeanour that implied that he felt dealing with Dunham or Bishop would be beneath him.

Broyles shook his hand before turning the conversation briskly to business; Ortiz was able to inform the team that there had been no sighting of the suspect since their arrival, nor had he been spotted inside the residence.

"We're going in there" the black agent declared. "Thank you Chief; we'll take it from here."

Ortiz seemed furious at his abrupt dismissal; he clearly hoped that he would be involved in whatever the agents were doing. He was, however, unwilling to deal with the consequences of interfering with a Federal investigation so, reluctantly, he withdrew his team.

Dunham was able to quickly force the lock on the front door; the agents entered with guns drawn, Bishop a couple of paces behind them; his eyes were peeled in case of trouble. A persistent glint drew the team's attention to the hallway. Dunham stood in awe as she studied the myriad of golden artefacts lined against the walls of the room.

"Well we've got the right place" she noted; her boyfriend stooped for a closer inspection of the metallic objects. Most were mundane (knives, forks, plates) but of considerable interest to them was what looked like extremely thin sheets of the metal folded in a very familiar manner. "Wait; did he turn a _newspaper_ to gold?" her incredulity was mounting.

"It's possible he began by experimenting on simple objects" Walter's voice from her two-way radio caused her to start; she had momentarily forgotten that they were keeping an open line to the scientist. She recovered her composure and gave a brief but detailed description of the scene before them; Broyles continued his search of the house before joining the pair with the news that it was indeed unoccupied.

"It looks like nobody's lived here in a few weeks" he noted. "There's no fresh food but some mould-ridden things in the fridge" he elaborated.

"Was there a study or anything like that?" Bishop wondered. "If he's left any clue as to where he might be or what he did to cause this to happen then it's likely to be there."

"Upstairs"

The lovers followed as he led them to the room he had found. Dunham opened a drawer in the bureau that adorned one corner of the small room and began rifling through the papers she found there. Her eyes widened as she discovered their contents and her mind began to piece together what Myers was doing – and why.

"We gotta find this guy… fast" she declared.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Thanks to all who have read this story so far and to Berniej for reviewing the last chapter. I hope you all enjoy the continuation.**

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><p>The team rushed from the house; Dunham took with her the papers she had found. Nothing they had found betrayed their quarry's current location but his future targets <em>had<em> been identified.

"So why our vic?" a mystified Bishop wondered aloud. "What made him a target?"

"Circumstance?" suggested Dunham. "It could be as simple as that; he'd carried out his technique on inanimate objects, maybe he just wanted a live test subject before focussing on his real targets. That could be why the body was just dumped in the woods rather than kept as a trophy like his earlier efforts. This guy had no meaning for him; he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and left on a trail that hardly anybody ever uses."

"We won't know for sure until we find this guy" Broyles interjected "We have a list of possible targets so let's start looking."

_Torrington, Connecticut_

The black car pulls up around 100 yards from the front door of the driver's target. He gets out and dons a skin-tight plastic glove, pulling it taut over his right hand. With his left he unstoppers the test tube; he then shakes the tube briefly over his gloved hand. He balls his right lightly into a fist and massages the palm with his fingers before depositing the tube back in the car. He gathers up a pair of gold tweezers, sliding them into his jacket pocket, shuts the car door, turns and walks to his destination.

The shadowy figure raises his left fist and raps on the door.

"Hello David!" the householder greets him in surprise upon opening.

The other extends his right hand with a smile and they shake hands before the householder registers the texture on his palm, realising it's a glove.

"Why - ?" he begins, cocking his head in confusion before gasping at the sensation his right hand is experiencing. He looks at the appendage as it turns yellow and metallic before his eyes; he realises the transformation is spreading – and accelerating. His expression duly turns to one of abject horror, an expression which is frozen on his face as the metamorphosis swiftly completes.

The shadowy figure gathers the statue under his right arm, turns and walks back to his vehicle. He stows the metal figure in the trunk, retrieves the tweezers from his pocket and uses it to carefully remove the glove from his hand, dropping it lazily on top of his victim.

_Massive Dynamic, New York City_

"_My name_ is on your list?" Sharpe asked in annoyed incredulity; the team had contacted her and called her back to the office with the latest developments in the case. Broyles confirmed her query. "Where did you find this list?"

"At David Myers's house. We know he worked for you and that you fired him. Were the others on the list involved with him as well?" the dark agent demanded.

Nina confirmed wearily, disclosing that the list contained team members, managers and people further up the company's food chain.

"You could _all_ be his targets" warned Dunham.

"Why go after you all?" Bishop wondered aloud.

"Revenge?" Broyles suggested. "Was he the fall guy for something? He was fired; maybe he feels others should have been as well so he went after them, along with those who did the actual firing."

All eyes turned to the Massive Dynamic executive. With great reluctance she pulled up the file on Myers's dismissal; Dunham stood over her shoulder and pored over the document looking for inconsistencies, for any evidence of a cover-up. They soon found what they were looking for.

"Here, Investigation into the collapse of Project Omicron" Dunham pointed to the screen and began to read selected highlights aloud. "Security failings, corporate espionage, suspected leak of research to competition."

"He took the fall for the entire department" Dunham gasped. "No wonder he's pissed."

"All these names are on his list" Broyles noted. "We need to start notifying these people."

"But that project had nothing to do with alchemy" noted Bishop, scouring the screen from over Sharpe's other shoulder.

"No, but _this_ project that Myers _also_ worked on does" the red-haired woman conceded with deep reluctance.

"Project Aurora?" Dunham began to scan the synopsis. "Using Genetically Modified bacteria to convert matter into different elements?" She continued reading, muttering under her breath until she came across relevant information. "Finally isolated bacterium that could produce gold… Project terminated… bacteria put into deep freeze."

"He must have defrosted them" observed Broyles dryly.

"We had to develop special materials when we began this project" Nina explained "We coated the equipment used in different polymers until we found some that the bacteria didn't interact with; otherwise we'd simply end up with all our lab kit turning to different materials."

"Let me guess; a batch of that material has gone as well."

"I haven't been able to confirm the _bacteria_ gone yet, Olivia, never mind anything else" Nina began before admitting "it's likely though, yes."

"How are we going to warn everyone?" Bishop demanded. "There are over twenty names on the list."

"I'll call them in for a briefing tomorrow" Sharpe promised.

"It may be too late if he's decided to act already" Dunham mused.

"He's trying to avoid detection" Broyles reasoned. "Do any of the people on the list live alone? They'd be likely to be his first targets."

"Or maybe a cluster who live close by one another" suggested Dunham.

"I'll pull up their personal files and get addresses and phone numbers" Nina sighed and began to pull up the information. She had a feeling that this was going to be a long evening.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Thanks again to all my readers and especially to Berniej for reviewing the last chapter. On with the story.**

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><p>Dunham, Bishop, Broyles and Sharpe sat around the main table in the executive's office; they were sorting the names on Myers's list by location and size of household in an effort to identify where the former employee and chief suspect might strike next. The group worked rapidly, knowing that they didn't have time to waste.<p>

"Ok" Broyles summarised "we have eight of his targets living within a 10 mile radius of each other near the town of Torrington, Connecticut. Four of them: Richard Wells, Andrew Hughes, Simon Green and Michelle Talbot all live alone; I'll contact base and dispatch teams to their locations. We should head _here_" he pointed to the Wells house which lay at the centre of the cluster "and co-ordinate from there."

"What should I do?" asked Sharpe.

"Hide" Bishops stated flatly.

The two glared at one another for a long moment before Dunham added

"Either go home and secure your house or come with us so we can keep you safe."

"I'll head home" the red-haired woman informed them tersely.

The team left Massive Dynamic and headed for their destination while Nina returned home, locking and securing the doors as she entered. She moved swiftly through her home checking for any signs of an intruder or forced entry. When none presented itself she sank onto her couch and let out a nervous breath that she hadn't realised she'd been holding. The executive closed her eyes and palmed her forehead wondering, for the first time as the thought suddenly occurred to her, just how an employee who had been fired had been allowed to leave with such sensitive property. She shook her head; the time to deal with that would be once the current crisis had been resolved.

_Torrington, Connecticut_

By the time Dunham and the team pulled up other agents were already on the scene. Broyles swiftly took charge, demanding information and updates from everyone. He collated their reports; the other properties were secure… the _other_ properties…

The Wells house, where they were currently situated, had a wide-open front door. The team didn't require more than a cursory glance to note the golden figure lying in the hallway. A cordon was immediately deployed around the property's perimeter and the area secured. Agents, meanwhile, had been given instructions to visit the houses they were watching and instructing the occupants to stay indoors; under no circumstances were they to leave or answer the door this evening. They were not, however, given the real reason; they were simply warned that a violent gang were active in the area. The story turned out not to be suitably convincing for Ms Talbot; the young blonde ignored the FBI caution when Myers snuck into her back yard, evading the watching eyes of officialdom and greeting her at her back door; it proved to be a fatal mistake as she suffered the same fate as her colleague.

Satisfied with his night's work, Myers returned to his Pittsfield hide-out; with the FBI watching he would have to adapt his strategy…

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><p><em>Fringe Division, Boston, Massachusetts<em>

Dunham and Bishop arrived to be summoned to Broyles's office; the black agent was seething, a sight that caused the couple to hesitate before crossing the threshold and entering.

"Michelle Talbot was killed last night; same MO" he began furiously. "Nina Sharpe told me she never arrived for work today; the others on the list have all been briefed but she wasn't there. Sharpe contacted us, we sent the agents on the scene into her house and they found her near the back door. HOW did he get her when we were stood watching? When we had warned her? How the HELL did this happen?" he raged.

"Have the others been briefed?" Dunham enquired.

Broyles confirmed it; Sharpe had given the briefing first thing, along with breaking the news of the demise of their colleague (she would, by now, have had to pass on the news of the second death as well).

"So now what?" wondered Bishop pragmatically. "Myers snuck round the back to get Talbot, the others have been briefed, they'll know he's after them. We can't expect him to just come to them now; how are we going to find _him_ before he strikes again?"

"Good question" Broyles conceded. "We need to find his base; we know he's left his house but still have it under surveillance for if he _does_ go back there."

"Any vehicles parked in the area last night that left during the evening?" suggested Dunham. "It could be a starting point at least."

"We're on it" Broyles told her "no plates we could trace back to him, no vehicle either so far. We have a description of the vehicle registered _to_ him, nothing matching it in the area last night so we can't even look at fake plates.

"Stolen vehicles in the area?" was Bishop's proposal.

"Next thing on our list" the chief agent explained. "The trouble is we need to look at lower New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, maybe even some of Vermont or New Hampshire; that's a lot of thefts to sift through and takes time we just don't have, even if we're cross-referencing with cars in the area that may or may not have new plates."

Bereft of ideas to narrow the search further they opted to return to Myers's house. They combed the property for any clues that they may have overlooked on their previous visit, feeling that they had more time to investigate now that they knew what they were dealing with; it was just a question of where he was now and where he would strike next.

"Nothing!" lamented Bishop as the fruitless search concluded. They had looked everywhere without finding anything that could be deemed useful.

"Well what do we know about the guy?" Dunham asked rhetorically. "Anything about his past; who his parents were or where they lived. ANYTHING that could give us some clue to where he is now."

"Nina might know."

"I'll call her. I'll call Broyles and see if he can put someone on it too."

They struck out with Massive Dynamic; most of Myers's personnel file had been removed following his firing and there was no next-of-kin detail. Broyles _was_ able to provide them with information late in the afternoon; his staff eventually finding something that could prove useful.

"He grew up in Pittsfield" Dunham told her boyfriend. "We got an address; let's go."

_Pittsfield, Massachusetts_

Dunham and Bishop pulled up at the address Broyles had found; the house was situated in a well-kept neighbourhood and the property itself looked meticulously well-cared-for. The couple exited their vehicle and made a cursory look of the dwelling; the yard contained numerous flowers, a couple of trees at the property's border and a large shed situated fairly centrally around the back. No vehicles were visible, though there was a closed garage. Bishop tried it; it was locked.

Dunham walked to the front door and rapped sharply on it; she waited a few moments before repeating the action. After a third attempt she conceded that the house was currently empty and took another walk around it, snooping through the first floor windows. The darkness within the house meant that she could see little on this overcast day so she called Bishop over and they made their way to the shed. A padlock prevented them from gaining immediate access and the only windows were mounted near the roof; they could not see inside without finding a ladder.

In desperate frustration Bishop tugged at the padlock; unsurprisingly he had no success in moving it but, despite Dunham's exhortations to the contrary, he began to look to force it. Seeking plausible deniability Dunham returned to studying the house until the padlock was removed. Bishop entered the shed, Dunham close behind him. They surveyed the interior; dimly lit with a work station that held an array of instruments, test-tubes, gloves and more than one golden item.

"This is the place" Bishop declared.

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><p>Shortly afterwards the FBI deployed a team to secure the area and take charge of the materials there, including the bacteria. This had led to conflict with Massive Dynamic; Nina Sharpe was demanding that the company's stolen property be returned to it, Broyles and the FBI had other ideas. The agents' stance prevailed and the materials were soon despatched to Harvard and to Walter's lab.<p>

"So now what?" Bishop asked Broyles.

"We keep surveillance on this place, keep looking for Myers and bring him down."

"Do we wait for him to come to us or do we try to find him?"

"Both; we know of this place, his home and his list of targets. We'll look for him but we can also wait for him to walk into us."

In the shadows, just a few yards away, a figure overheard every word; he frowned as he realised he would need to make further changes to his strategy. Fortunately, he reflected, he still had a couple of test tubes with him.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Thanks, once again, to everyone who reads and reviews this story. Berniej, I'm glad you're enjoying it. Marc Vun Kannon, in the interests of consistency I'll continue to refer to them the way I have throughout but I will take your request on board for any future stories I may write. Not sure about your description of them as 'real people' though.**

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><p><em>Nina closed her eyes, pinched her nose with her fingers and exhaled deeply. She had moved methodically down the list of "targets" calling all of the employees named to her office. The sound of a cautious knock on the door caused her to lift her head and look towards it.<em>

"_Come in" she called, adopting a terse tone to keep the nervousness and concern from her voice._

_The summoned employees began to file inside, each wearing a pensive expression._

"_Sit down" she instructed before beginning "Each of you worked with David Myers on Project Aurora. You also worked with him, Michelle Talbot and Richard Wells. The latter two were killed last night."_

_Worried glances lapped around the table, not only from the deaths of their colleagues but from the mention of the project, the fall-out from it and the possible ramifications of what had happened._

"_The research has been removed from the building" Sharp continued. "Myers has it – and he has USED it; on objects – and on our colleagues." Worry gave way to outright fear at this revelation. "Each person in this room is on what appears to be his list of targets – including me" she announced. "Take extra precautions, be very careful and answer the door to NOBODY when you're at home without EXTREME caution. Lastly, once this is over I WILL find out how he came to get access to the materials kept here." The red-head glared around the table looking for a hint of guilt; none was forthcoming, terror continued to dominate the expressions of her co-workers._

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><p><em>Walter Bishop's Laboratory, Harvard University<em>

"Hey Walter" Bishop greeted him as he and Dunham returned to the lab. "Any news on the technology? Any way to reverse its effects?" He fired the questions rapidly at the scientist who looked at him with a calm expression.

"Oh there's no chance of that" he began. "They have no internal organs left, just a golden shell. What I _can_ try to do is produce an immunity; obviously the glass they're stored in is immune to the effects – normal glass _isn't_". To demonstrate this Dr Bishop walked over to his fume cupboard in which he had isolated all the materials from the case. He thrust his hands into the thick rubber gloves protruding from the cupboard and began by shaking a test tube over a petri dish; the team watched as the latter turned almost instantly to gold. "So the question" he continued "is WHY this glass doesn't turn while my glass _does_."

"What's the answer?" Broyles fired impatiently.

Walter looked at the agent with a hint of hurt in his expression at the brusque tone before elaborating.

"The glass has been specially formulated. Nina sent over the composition of it, but not _all_ the details of the research. The formula of the glass doesn't look all that different from normal glass so there must be something in the _way_ it's blown that cases it; it is a lot heavier than my other glassware which means it's a lot denser. The answer could be somewhere in that..." he turned away from the group suddenly and returned to his experiments.

"I spoke to Nina again" Broyles told the others "to find out what's happening there in the aftermath of the briefing."

"So what are they doing?" Dunham enquired. "Are they staying home?"

"They're still working; the show must go on at Massive Dynamic."

Bishop rolled his eyes at this. "Ok, where are we on our targets? Let's see if we can figure out who's next and find Myers before he strikes."

Broyles pulled out his laptop and began crunching data; soon the result of the calculations appeared on screen with the identity of Myers's likely next target.

Dunham blinked. "Oh my God" she whispered and she and Bishop turned and sprinted to her car.

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><p>Nina returned home after another stressful day; the employees from Omicron and Aurora were still, understandably, on edge about Myers being on the loose and after revenge. She ran her hand through her hair as she went back mentally over the list of people he had been close to while he worked for the company, trying to narrow down the suspects who could have helped him steal the nanotech he was using in his quest for revenge.<p>

She stepped through the door to her home, locked it again and began to relax a little. She glanced at her phone, surprised to see several missed calls from Olivia Dunham; this paled in comparison to the surprise of the voice she heard as she entered her kitchen, still looking at her phone.

"Hello Nina" Myers greeted her.


	7. Chapter 7

"David?" Nina took a couple of hurried steps back. She felt her phone vibrate again in her hand; another call. She surreptitiously pressed the answer button and held the phone limply with her thumb over the earpiece to drown out Dunham's voice.

"We need to talk Nina" Myers answered as he approached her.

* * *

><p>Dunham froze as she heard the male voice followed by Nina's.<p>

"_David, how did you get in here?"_

"_I picked the lock; amazing the skills you can acquire when you're not at work because you get fired as the scapegoat."_

"What is it?" Bishop asked his girlfriend.

Dunham put the phone on speaker and they listened as the conversation continued.

"_Scapegoat? You compromised security, put the company at risk. I HAD to fire you."_

"_You __really__ think that I was the only one responsible for Omicron's failures? Seriously Nina?"_

"_You were the only one PROVEN to be involved in that part of it."_

Myers sighed at the explanation and then gave a predatory grin. Now was the moment of his final revenge. Nina's fear rose at the look.

"_How did you get hold of the Aurora research?" she demanded. "It was locked and sealed in the vault; there's no way for you to get access once your clearance was revoked – and that was a week before you were finally dismissed."_

"_Oh Nina, I have my ways" was his cryptic reply._

"That's it Nina, keep him talking" Dunham muttered as they drew inexorably closer to the CEO's house.

"_They know it's you" the red-head blurted suddenly. "The FBI" she clarified "they know you're behind this, the killings."_

"_In that case I'm finished either way… now to take you with me"_

Myers stepped closer to her; he wore a glove over his right hand and held a stoppered test tube with his left. His attention, however, was diverted by the sudden smashing of the window as Bishop leapt through it. Myers turned to face the newcomer and this allowed Dunham a clear shot; she struck his left forearm and the pain caused him to drop the tube; the special glass ensuring it didn't break.

Myers reacted by reaching inside his jacket; his action caused Dunham to fire again, this time hitting him square in the chest and he dropped to the ground dead.

* * *

><p>The remaining people in the room surveyed the scene; the dead body bleeding on the kitchen floor dominated the view. Nina took deep, steadying breaths as she comprehended what had happened – and what had <em>almost<em> happened.

"He came for _me_" she stated flatly. "I knew I was on the list but still… he actually came to kill _me_!"

Dunham placed a hand gently on her shoulder.

"But he didn't; Broyles figured out that you were his next most likely target; I tried to call you but couldn't – I guess you were driving home – then we managed to get here before he could."

"Thank you, both of you" she said, looking from Dunham to Bishop. The dark-haired man gave a brusque half-smile in response.

"Well, at least it's over" Dunham noted as she called the police and then Broyles to notify them as to what had happened.

* * *

><p><em>Mystic, Connecticut<em>

An attractive blonde in her late twenties entered a room in her basement that she'd renovated to turn into a basic laboratory. She raised a stoppered test tube to the light coming from the overhead bulb, shook it a little before replacing it in the rack and smiling to herself.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that concludes "The Midas Touch". I do hope you all enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it; if any of my other works interest you then please check them out and I hope that you enjoy them as well. Thanks are due to everyone who has read it and particularly to Berniej, xBBX and Marc Vun Kannon for their reviews. PD31 signing out.<strong>


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